God is as close as your breath when you remember to access His presence in a breath prayer.

How can you practice breath prayer?  Would you like to be in His presence, shedding your anxiety and enjoying peace?

Notice your breath when anxious

Breathing shallow is common when anxious or distracted.  Have you noticed when anxious, your breathing tends to be shallow? Check your breathing right now. (Hopefully, you’re not too anxious!)   Where in your body are most of your breathing occurring?

If it is shallow, check to see what happens to your body when you stop to take a deeper breath. Breathe in for 8, exhale for 6 several times. See if you can breathe deeply into your belly.  What differences are you noticing?

Taking time to pause to breathe deeply calms your brain and your nervous system.  I know I have to be reminded to breathe deeply.

Add a breath prayer to bring even more calm and peace

By focusing on God during your deeper breathing, you can add peace and calm to your spirit as well as your brain.  How do you add prayer to your breathing?  the practice is simple, yet challenging because the key is to remember to do it.

Breath prayer focuses on a name for God, like, Abba Father, while inhaling.  That focus on His name allows you to take a deeper breath.

On the exhale, while blowing out unnecessary chaos, you ask God what you want Him to provide, bring me peace.  

The prayer could be… Inhale  Abba Father…. Exhale….Bring me peace. 

Or you can pray to Jesus on the inhale and ask for mercy on the exhale.

The prayer could be… Inhale  Jesus…. Exhale….Have mercy on me. 

Or you can pray to Holy Spirit on the inhale and ask for courage on the exhale.

The prayer could be… Inhale  Holy Spirit…. Exhale….Bring me courage 

As you can see breathe prayers are short, yet highly effective in hearing God’s heartbeat for you and very doable.

Connect with God every moment

You can connect with God anytime, for any reason, in any place.

• Need to fight fear, pray for courage.
• Need to let go of anger, pray for strength.
• Need to overcome shame, pray for freedom

Intentionally connecting with God in breath prayer can keep you more peaceful, moving forward and less anxious. For me, breath prayers significantly reduce my anxiety.  As I practice my breath prayers, I feel myself leaning into the arms of Jesus and my body relaxes.  I recognize His presence in my life.  My favorite breath prayer is I AM with you.  

If you’d like someone to practice breath prayers with, let me know.  Share your breath prayers on My Sacred Moments Facebook page, too.  Our sharing of prayers encourage each other.

He is as near as your breath, enjoy His presence.

Nancy Booth wants to create safe spaces for you, helping you find ways to have two-way conversations with God.  She loves encouraging you to look for ways He is at work. Nancy is a spiritual director and writer.  She would love to accompany you on your journey of discovery to hear and see more of the God who delights in you.  Peace, hope and freedom could be yours Contact her today.